Have I won the DK is a Street Performer Challenge?

The DK is a Street Performer keyword ranking challenge started last Friday when Howie Schwartz declared the keyword phrase.

Rank as many times on the first page of Google for the phrase, he said.

Immediately two people tweeted (blogged in 140 characters or less on twitter) and their tweets showed up on the first page of Google, where they stayed for several days.

Soon after, one marketer took quick action and began dominating the first and second pages of Google for the search term "DK is a street performer." Liane Carmi, an internet marketer from Toms River, NJ, appeared to be the only one participating in the contest as she completely took over, at one point, 9 of the 10 top spots on Google.

For over a day, she remained in control, until Rick Antle of Alabama began to promote several Web 2.0 sites for the keyword term "DK is a Street Performer."

Both continued hitting the challenge heavily.

Currently, Liane has 8/11 top spots on Google (usually there are only 10 spots; however, Google has been showing 2 YouTube videos in one listing), and Rick has the other 3 spots with a video, press release and hubpage.

Liane also has a YouTube video, press release and hubpage - but also has a basic website, flickr account, article from ezinearticles, squidoo lens and main blog.

"When you're in an SEO rankings contest for a phrase that has never really been on Google before, like 'DK is a Street Performer," stated Liane, "you have to be the first to take action, keep up your momentum, and keep going until after everyone else has stopped."

Google tends to show fresh pages first when it comes to news (press releases and articles). It also shows fresh videos first, but not if one video has more views than another (in which case the video with more views ranks).

Google also has a strange habit of placing one link under another, and indenting one of the links, even though they may not be on the same page.

To see some examples of this, and to check in on the current updates of the contest, Liane recommends typing the keyword phrase 'DK is a Street Performer' into Google.

Rick thinks you should type it in exact match (surrounded by quotation marks) because that makes his YouTube video show up first.

Liane argues that, while this shows good keyword usage, it doesn't reflect the way people really search on Google.

Ranking on Google: How The DK-is-a-Street-Performer Case Study Can Help Your Business

The Yellow Pages used to be the first marketing tool a business would go to if they wanted to be seen. A business owner would pay a monthly fee to have a listing in the yellow book. Today, not many people use the yellow pages - much less own a copy. Instead, people are going to Google to search for services.

That is why there is so much business for SEO experts nowadays. Business owners know that the key to getting new clients is to rank on the first page of Google, and they will pay hundreds of dollars per month to get their websites to show up. And when they do? You have a 10% chance of having someone click on your website.

10% is better than no percent - but today's businesses are looking for something more - something equivalent to the full-page color ads that used to draw consumers' attention to your ad in the yellow pages. These ads would increase visibility, and increase the number of new customers coming in.

This is exactly what the dk-is-a-street-performer case study teaches. A new breed of online marketers is emerging - marketers who are able to bring your business to the first page of Google SEVERAL times - effectively erasing your competitors and dramatically increasing the chance that a client would click on your site.

What do multiple listings on the first page of Google really do for a business? Consider that there are an average of 10 results on the first page in organic search (organic search is the listing of websites on the left hand site. These are not paid for). One listing would mean that one out of 10 people searching for your service will click on your website. Two listings increase that chance to two. And if you are able to do what Liane Carmi did during the "DK is a Street Performer" challenge, you might even get up to eight sites on the first page of Google.

Because search engines like Google are constantly updating, sites on the first page of Google do not always stay there. For example, recent news and blog items tend to rank higher than older news items; however, marketers like Ms. Carmi are able to employ strategies that keep certain websites at the top of the page.

When asked about the challenge and how she was able to rank so well in comparison to her competitors, Ms. Carmi responded, "You have to take action, and keep taking action." "The winner will be the person who remains consistent even after all other competitors have thrown in the towel."

"Find someone who has experience with difficult online markets," Ms. Carmi offered. "This is the person who can get you the highest rankings on the first page of Google." Also, Ms. Carmi recommended getting extra help with your landing page. "In order to make sales, it takes more than a click - it takes knowing how to win the customer over. Most websites don't do that."

For the most recent updates on the contest, those interested should go to Google and type, "DK is a Street Performer" in the search.